Water as a natural resource continues to become a more scarce resource, particularly in many developing countries. Climate change, coupled with increased population has resulted in an increased demand for usable water supplies. In some areas, upstream water flows have been reduced by dams and other water diverting structures, thereby reducing available flow for downstream users.
Despite improvements in many technologies, most managed waterways such as canals or aqueducts do not have effective means to prevent evaporation loss. It is known to provide a lining to prevent water absorption into the ground, and many such canals and aqueducts may have some type of lining to limit water loss through absorption. However, for both large and small waterways, the amount of water lost by evaporation is significant, and linings do not prevent evaporation losses. Because of the cost involved with physically covering managed waterways, most waterways are un-covered.
Another problem in many developing countries is the lack of affordable and reliable electrical power. As urban areas continue to increase in size, electrical power requirements often exceed electrical power producing infrastructure. Even in what could be considered second world countries, many urban and rural areas have limited electrical power supplies that are rationed on a daily basis.
As an alternative to traditional fossil fuel energy sources, solar power has been developed in recent decades. Solar panels typically employ photovoltaics (PV) for generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity, as well known with respect to semiconductors that achieve a photovoltaic effect. However, although there are increasing needs for the use of solar power as an alternative to fossil fuels, one limiting factor in use of solar panels is the amount of land available to install the panels. Although photovoltaic technology has greatly improved, large arrays of solar panels are still required in order to produce comparable amounts of electricity to compensate for the lack of or loss of fossil fuel resources. In many developing countries, flat terrain near roads and other infrastructure may be very valuable as farmland and therefore not available to accommodate large groups of solar arrays. Additionally, there may be limited tracts of land available for purchase or lease to employ solar arrays, even in many developing countries. Large tracts of land are generally unavailable in most urban areas. Land in rural areas is difficult to purchase or lease in large tracts, and even if the requisite tracts of land could be made available, the cost to secure the land presents yet another obstacle in installing large groups of solar arrays.
Providing solar panels that cover bodies of water such as canals or aqueducts can provide an integrated solution for prevention of evaporation loss and as solution for available space for installing large groups of solar arrays. The production of electrical power coupled with the reduction in loss of water by evaporation provides two substantial benefits.
In many developing countries, one of the main requirements for electrical power is for pumping water for agricultural irrigation. Because of limited electrical power capabilities in many regions, the requirement for pumping coupled with an unexpected increase for electrical power within the same grid can result in intermittent power shortages and often stoppage of power for unpredictable time periods until the grid can recover. By providing an additional power source from solar arrays installed over selected lengths of a canal, the solar arrays can provide distributed energy for grids that may be particularly vulnerable to intermittent electrical power transmissions. This distributed energy that can be controlled with smart power grid strategies such as providing solar inverters programmed to provide variable outputs as the power requirements change in the grid. Thus, the grid can be supplemented with power from the solar panels to mitigate intermittent power transmission from power sources within the grid and thereby reducing the stress on the grid. The stabilizing of electrical power generated to the grid by the solar panels also effectively reduces the overall cost of solar power as compared to traditional fossil fuel power sources.
Most solar panel support structures incorporate heavy, rigid steel support members, and these types of installations therefore can be prohibitively expensive for large solar arrays due to the expense of installing the support structures that incorporate such great numbers of structural members. Other types of solar panel support structures may reduce the number of structural members, but these structures may not be adequately designed to withstand live loading conditions for large solar arrays. Therefore, there is a need to provide a robust, yet economical solar panel support structure that can be installed over extended lengths, such as over long distances of a water canal/aqueduct to produce enough power and corresponding revenue to compensate for the cost of installation, and to make the installation feasible for reaping the benefits of the conservation of water by reducing evaporation in those areas where the solar arrays are installed. There is also a need to provide a solar panel support structure design in which the structure can be easily installed, even on sloping terrain and other locations which traditionally are not suitable for installation of solar panels. There is yet a further need to provide a solar panel support structure design that does not inhibit or otherwise interfere with full operation of the canal/aqueduct such that the canal/aqueduct can undergo necessary maintenance or upgrade, and further wherein the solar panel support structure does not inhibit use of the canal/aqueduct as a navigable waterway.